Page 111 of Crowned In Venom

Because of him.

Because I was starting to hesitate.

Because I let Varkos make me forget, for a moment, who he is.

What he is.

I inhale sharply, my pulse pounding in my ears. There’s still time. I can still?—

A sharp bang cracks against the door.

I whirl around just as it bursts open.

Dark-elven guards flood into the room, their faces grim, their weapons drawn. Too many.

I react instinctively. My body moves before my mind can catch up—a desperate lunge for the dagger beneath my pillow.

Too slow.

Hands clamp around my arms, wrenching them behind my back. My shoulder screams in protest, but I do not yield.

I thrash, twisting, aiming a kick toward the nearest guard’s knee—a snap of movement, a flash of pain as I strike.

A snarl of frustration. One of them slams me into the stone floor.

The breath rushes from my lungs in a brutal gasp. My vision blurs.

Cold iron bites against my wrists as they bind me.

Tight. Too tight.

A gloved hand grips my jaw, forcing my head back.

"You are summoned, human," one of them sneers. "Try not to disgrace yourself further."

Then they drag me.

The corridor spins around me as my body fights the binds, my heart pounding a frenzied rhythm against my ribs.

I cannot escape.

But I cannot stop struggling.

I twist, earning myself a sharp blow to the ribs—a warning.

Pain bursts white behind my eyelids, but I do not make a sound.

I will not give them the satisfaction.

They pull me through the palace, past darkened halls lined with silver-lit torches. Past the corpses of the rebels I freed.

They are all dead.

Blood pools beneath them, glistening in the dim light. Their empty eyes stare at nothing.

I have failed.

A final turn. A pair of ornate black doors.

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